


Hanging Back

by Iwouldwrite1000fics



Category: Coco (2017)
Genre: Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 11:18:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19172191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iwouldwrite1000fics/pseuds/Iwouldwrite1000fics
Summary: Hector survived the Final Death thanks to Miguel, but he knows the rules:  no photo on an ofrenda no crossing the bridge.





	Hanging Back

After nearly a century of failure Hector Rivera had gotten very used to disappointment.  Over the decades he had developed several behaviors to deal with it.  From assuming the worst about every situation in advance, to developing his conman act so if people don’t trust him he doesn’t have to trust them and have it broken.

Those behaviours followed him after his trip to near final death and back, and his actions reflected it.  When he woke up at Imelda’s home he worked to hide the pain lingering from that night so as not to bother anyone, and only stopped when it earned him a boot upside the head from his wife.

Even as the family welcomed him into their lives he dwelled on the negative and waited for the other proverbial shoe to drop.  As he started to learn the family trade he always kept to the back of the workshop, trying to not get in the way.  He never initiated any conversation or activity himself, but instead waited to be invited to join in.  As the months rolled by he got better, especially when Coco joined them in the Land of the Dead and made it perfectly clear that she held no ill will towards her papa.  He started to share his own interests especially with Julio and Victoria and worked to get to know the son in law and grand-daughter he had never known in life.  For a while it was wonderful.

Until another Dia de Muertos was upon them.

The rest of the family was excited and Hector helped them get ready and close up the shop early.  He smiled brightly for Coco for her first trip home.  As she went to finish getting ready Hector went back down to the shop.  

He put on a brave face and told himself that he didn’t need to face that dumb flower bridge again.  Coco was here now and Imelda had allowed him home; that would be enough.  There were people who came around, more frequently as the weeks went by; asking for him and not Imelda, wanting to know about the great song writer of Santa Cecilia.  He quickly learned that Coco kept his letters that people knew he wrote Ernesto’s songs.  He will be remembered.

But he _can’t_ be on the ofrenda. 

That photo was lost and there would be no others after so long.  Imelda would have torn up any she had, like the one Miguel had shown him.  Hector frowned as he thought about his great-great-grandson.  He wanted to see how Miguel was, watch him grow and hear him play, but one day, hopefully, many, many decades from now he too would join them and so there was no need to deal with that annual heartbreak anymore.

***

It was hectic getting everyone out the door off to the bridge.  So much so that Coco let Julio go with the others to the bridge first and she waited from mama and papa.

Mama came out shortly after they left…alone

“Where’s papa?”

“He’s finishing inventory.”

“Why?  Doesn’t he want to come with us?”

Imelda glanced at the ground knowing her actions had caused this.  In her need to end her own pain she had caused so much pain to others.

“Perhaps he should tell you that.  I’ll wait.”

Coco frowned and went back inside looking for papa and found him in the workshop up on a ladder arranging boxes.

“Papa?”

He looked down.

“Coco, you should be heading for the bridge by now.  You wouldn’t want the festivities to start without you.”

“What about you, Papa?  Don’t you want to see the family?”

Hector sighed. “I do more than anything, but there are rules, mija.  I don’t have a photo on the ofrenda and so I can’t cross the bridge to the Land of the Living.”

Coco look confused.

“Of course you have a photo, Papa.  That one of all of us.“

Hector fell off the ladder.

“W-What?”

Coco helped him up and calmly explained. “I know how much you leaving hurt mama, even though it wasn’t your fault that you couldn’t come back.  I kept the piece she tore off.  You know how rare photos were back then and I was so young when you left.  I couldn’t bare the idea of forgetting what you looked like, and then I almost did anyway.”

Hector wrapped his hands around her shoulders and looked at his daughter.

“Coco, that disease was not your fault,” he said firmly.

“I know, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt you or the family.” She sighed. “I thought about fixing up the photo once mama passed on, I knew it was nearly a certainty that you had too by then, but I didn’t want to upset my girls.  And in a way I enjoyed having a secret that was just for me.”   

She smiled and chuckled at an old memory.  “Well I did share you with Miguel. I hummed our song for him when he was a baby and wouldn’t sleep, it worked every time.  And when he played it for me and told me how much you loved me I knew it was safe to share it all with our family again.”

Hector’s eyes were bright and filled with unshed tears. “Thank you.”

She nodded. “Miguel taped it up that photo with such care, and I swear we went to every shop in town to find the perfect frame for it.”

Hector wanted to believe it and he knew Coco had no reason to lie, but it just seemed too good to be true.

“You’re sure?” he asked hesitantly.

She grabbed his arm and practically dragged him out the door to where Imelda was still waiting.

“Yes, now come on we’re going to be late!”

***

Hector went to the gate with them, but as the lines slowly worked their way forward he told Imelda and Coco to go on ahead of him just in case.  He stood nervously in front of the machine, his hat kept tightly in his hands and then there was a sound that had only ever been reserved for others.

The clerk gasped and then smiled for him.

“Enjoy your visit, Hector.”

Hector smiled too as he walked through the departures gate. Then kissed Coco and wrapped her up in the biggest hug he could give in thanks, because she had remembered him for all those years and now she had made sure he could go home at last.

They walked over to where the rest of the family was waiting and hand in hand they all walked home together.

The End


End file.
